The tendency in these get-togethers between San Diego State and USD is to build them up as grudge matches with citywide bragging rights on the line.

This is especially true in a three-game weekend series when both teams put their best pitchers on the mound. But midweek games are typically for keeping arms loose and swings grooved. The front-line pitching is usually limited to a front-row seat in the dugout.

However, USD did use weekend starter Dylan Covey, setup man James Pazos and closer Michael Wagner (who leads the nation with 10 saves) to secure its 5-1 win over the Aztecs on Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

“Midweek games have become ultra important, especially to the RPI,” said USD coach Rich Hill.

It’s also a good opportunity to catch up with both the Toreros and Aztecs, gauge where they are and where they’re headed. USD appears to be going places this season. For SDSU it’s been one step forward, one step back.

The first indication of the game’s importance came with Covey, who comes with credentials. He was a first-round draft choice (by Milwaukee) out of high school two years ago.

The real story for the Toreros this season is on offense. USD came into the game with a team batting average of .335, which was 84 points higher than its opponents. Six players in the starting lineup were batting better than .300, led by Kris Bryant (.414) and Corey LeVier (.409).

Bryant is coming off one of the best week’s in the history off the world after going 11-for-22 in six games last week with five home runs and 14 RBI.

The offense is going so well for USD that Tuesday night second baseman Austin Bailey, the Toreros’ No. 9 hitter, drove in the team’s first four runs. Bailey’s bases-loaded triple in the second inning and one-run single in the sixth was more than enough support for the Toreros pitchers.

If there is anything that remains a work in progress for USD (18-6), off to the second-best start in the school’s Division I history, it is a defense that has committed 39 errors in 24 games.

By contrast, SDSU (9-12) has committed but 24 errors, nearly half of them in the season’s first five games.

Hampering the Aztecs has been injuries — catcher Brad Haynal (broken leg) and No. 1 pitcher Cole Swanson (emergency appendectomy) are both out — and a bullpen that has failed to hold late leads. SDSU saw leads get away in two of its three Mountain West Conference losses over the weekend at New Mexico.